Next Now: Trends for the Future [Paperback]

Marian Salzman (Author), Ira Matathia (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0230600018 | ISBN-13: 978-0230600010 | Publication Date: November 27, 2007 | Edition: First edition & printing in this form

From the world-renowned trendspotting duo who has predicted everything from metrosexuality to the growth of global brands comes a new, enlightening look at the future. Based on intensive research and interviews as well as the authors' real-world and business experience in locations across the globe, this book yields surprising conclusions about everything from work (the end of permanent full-time employment) to sex (disappearing gender boundaries) to business (the emergence of true one-to-one marketing and the birth of "Chindia"). Essential reading for managers, marketers, and just about everyone else.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Few books, other than almanacs, have the breadth of coverage of this attempt at trend forecasting by ad exec Salzman and marketing consultant Matathia (coauthors of Next). Here's what they have to say about homosexuality and religion: "Religious communities are being torn apart by the battle over gay rights and civil unions. A number of the world's 37 Anglican primates are refusing to take communion with the American primate Frank Griswold because he ordained a gay bishop." That's it for homosexuality; the next factoid is that the religion sector was worth $6.8 billion in 2003. Three pages later, religion is over and the topic is politics. Despite the subtitle, the book focuses on the recent past rather than the future. Most citations are from popular news sources, lobbying groups or market research surveys up to three years old. The authors also draw on movies, Web sites, television shows and commercials for examples of trends in such areas as the workplace, business and sex. Fortunately, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Out of a collection of random, dated accounts of questionable reliability, the book manages to convey the mood swings of popular culture, though it doesn't muster the depth or rigor to tell you where things are going. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Well-organized and readable. . . . Salzman and Matathia keep the catchphrases and ad-speak to a minimum, choosing to concentrate on laying out their vision for the future in a simple, entertaining style."

--Calgary Herald

 

"When Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia speak, the world listens . . . the acknowledged trendspotters are back, flagging all sorts of upcoming cultural developments . . ."

--Ottawa Citizen

 

"In Next Now, Salzman and Matathia have written the 21st-century  playbook for marketers. Every page holds the promise of tomorrow's next big business idea, as well as the suggested practices for activating  key insights today."

--Laurie Coots, Chief Marketing Officer, TBWA\Worldwide

 

"Marian and Ira bring a rare rigor and a bracingly fresh eye to their exploration of the 'near future.' They excavate vibrant insights from trends bubbling up all over the world and weave together an instructive worldview that connects the intensely personal with the urgently universal. I guarantee you will look at the world differently after you read Next Now."

--Polly LaBarre, co-author, Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win

 

"The trouble with most futurologists is that they tell you the future will consist of incessant, unimaginable change--and then go on to describe it, in detail, with unjustified confidence. Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia smartly avoid that trap. Their 'future' ends in four or five years, which allows them to go close and look hard. This is an eye-opening, scary, thrilling book."

--Jesse Kornbluth, Editor, HeadButler.com

 

 

Praise for the original Next:

"Salzman and Matathia offer a dizzying snapshot of what our world might look like in the next five to ten years."--Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First edition & printing in this form edition (November 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230600018
• ISBN-13: 978-0230600010
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,334,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Old news which will leave you empty handed, March 30, 2007

By 

Kent M. Blumberg "Executive Coach" (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Next Now: Trends for the Future (Hardcover)

Marian Salzman (EVP and Director of Strategic Content for J. WalterThompson) and Ira Matathia (joint managing partner of Intelligence Partners LLC) set out to predict what our lives might be like in the years 2007 to 2010. Unfortunately, I think they have done a better job of telling us what has already happened than they have of telling us what may be.

The authors break their trend-spotting into three sections. The first covers geopolitical trends, the second looks at cultural trends and the third reviews more personal trends.

Some of the trends they identify include:

* The importance of personal branding.
* Potential reunions of the offspring of sperm donors.
* The impact of energy cost on lifestyles.
* The need for IT-free spaces - havens from connectivity.
* The potentially huge number of cars in China.
* The rise of Chindia (China and India).
* The growing need to fend for ourselves, and the accompanying rise in anxiety levels.
* The importance of networking to all of us.

The publisher claims this book is "based on intensive research and interviews" and is "essential reading for managers, marketers, and just about everyone else." Unfortunately, neither seems to be true.

I like my non-fiction books to be based on hard evidence as much as possible. And that usually means primary sources - research, peer-reviewed scientific works, interviews and observations. Based on the Notes, however, this book is based mainly on the popular press. I surveyed the Notes for five chapters and found that 85 percent were references to the popular press.

That's a problem for a couple of reasons. First of all, like many business leaders, I keep abreast of the popular press. In addition I subscribe to a number of blogs. I was already aware of most of these trends, and you will be, too. By reporting on trends already extensively publicized, the authors have deprived us of any real surprise.

The second problem with using secondary sources like the popular press is the inevitable distortion that comes in translating research results from science to press. It would have been much better to start with primary sources and translate them once - for the book. By summarizing summaries the authors have introduced a needless second step of distortion.

If I am going to spend my valuable time with a non-fiction book, I expect to come away with action ideas and insights in return. This book, however, left me empty handed. It's rare that I am unable to take away at least a few helpful insights when I read a business book, but that's the case with Next Now.

My recommendation: rather than buy this book, buy John Naisbitt's "Mindset!: Reset Your Thinking and See the Future" and learn how to sort out what's next yourself.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Book To Bring People Up To Date In One Volume, August 11, 2007

By 

Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Next Now: Trends for the Future (Hardcover)

When I saw the title of Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia's book on trends, NEXT NOW, I was totally lured in. The world is moving at such a frantic pace these days that if you're not careful, you'll only be able to keep up with your small part of it. As a father, I like to consider what's coming down the pipe. I need to be able to advise my kids regarding education, possible job futures, impending medical breakthroughs, health risks, and general states-of-affairs regarding political and economic trends.

I spend a lot of time considering the future and what may or may not happen. And it's not just about my family. I'm also working writer. The fiction novels I do these days tend to have a lot of research in them. You can't just write a spy novel with an evil, nefarious villain behind all the bad things that happen to the hero without going into why he's that way. Readers want to know how that villain is motivated. They want to know what political, religious, or economic sanctions triggered that villain's point of view.

So I tend to read a lot of online material, periodical magazines, book reviews, books, and watch a lot of television regarding emerging technologies. As it turns out, I'm either more educated in these fields that I thought I was, or the authors of this book didn't quite go far enough with their explorations of what's coming next.

Most of material they cover, I was already familiar with to a degree. Moreover, I was disappointed because they usually only superficially skim the surface of material they introduce in the book. In fact, some of the things they write about I've already been covering in my fiction for a couple of years. Such as the emerging economic growth of China and the direct challenge to the United States for oil as a consumer. A lot of people blame the oil companies for making vast amounts of profits, and surely they are, but the only reason they're able to do that is because the market has expanded and the quantity of the product has not. In fact, being more environmentally aware as well as politically conscious of emerging Third World countries has hindered oil production as well.

That increased market has been in the news if you know where to look for it for years. Unfortunately most people, corporate executives are guilty as well, tend not to look at these things. They're all about the here and now, and don't focus on the next at all.

Those people will probably be intimidated, shocked, and in awe of what Salzman and Matathia write about in their book. As a primer for the uneducated, NEXT NOW is a great little book that should jumpstart questions and interest. However, those who are fairly fluent in these emerging technologies and trends are going to be disappointed because they don't get anything really new.

In fact, the book has more focus on the recent past that it does on the next few years it claims it will cover. It's valuable to a degree in interpreting what is happened and offers some insight into what may be right around the corner.

The writing is workmanlike, though it gets a little clunky of times. Also, there's a habit of switching topics too quickly. Some of the material begs to be discussed more in-depth and doesn't receive the attention it deserves.

Furthermore, I would have liked to have more source material available beyond the book. I want to know where the authors got their information, what books or magazines they referenced, who they talked to in order to get the knowledge, so that I might have been able to follow up on some of the information myself.

I'm self-educated in these areas. You almost have to be. By the time a professor puts together a curriculum that will serve to teach you these things, it will be too late to act upon them. I like thinkers. They encourage me to think for myself and to wonder what if.

NEXT NOW is a great book for the uninitiated, but not so much for the professional working in a field that requires glimpses of the coming years.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 22, 2009

By 

L. Files "International Investigator" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Next Now: Trends for the Future (Hardcover)

Much of what is discussed I have seen coming to be. I cannot wait for the next edition.